US Senate leaders say Ukraine, border deal not likely before January

A senior Democrat and Republican in the U.S. Senate said that a deal to provide additional aid to Ukraine and bolster U.S. border security was not likely to be finalized before lawmakers head home for a year-end holiday break.

A senior Democrat and Republican in the U.S. Senate said that a deal to provide additional aid to Ukraine and bolster U.S. border security was not likely to be finalized before lawmakers head home for a year-end holiday break. Any possible bipartisan agreement would probably not be reached until January, lawmakers said.

"I hope that they're going to prepare the text and sit down and roll up their sleeves and finish up as soon as we get back in January," Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, told reporters. The chamber's No. 2 Republican, John Thune, also said a deal would not be reached before then. "Democrats have run out the clock to the point where getting a substantive border security deal passed before Christmas is impossible," he said on the Senate floor.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also said negotiators would need more time. The White House has warned that by the end of the year U.S. aid will run out to help Ukraine retake territory occupied by Russia since the 2022 invasion.

The Biden administration's request for another $61 billion in support has been bogged down in Congress, where Republicans say it must be paired with tougher immigration controls along the U.S.-Mexico border. Funding for Israel, another element of the package, is less controversial. Immigration is one of the most divisive issues in U.S. politics and bipartisan reform attempts have repeatedly failed over the past 20 years.

"I cannot state how complex this is. It's the most complicated area of American law," said Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an independent involved in the talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy faced a skeptical reception from Republicans when he visited Washington last week to drum up support.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has already left town and it is unclear whether it would return if the Democratic-controlled Senate passes a funding package. Lawmakers could find it harder to reach a deal in January, when the state-by-state 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest gets underway and they also face a deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)